why this much of negative publicity about BOSE

[shibashis]

By the way how many "Audio Grammer experts" have tested their own hearing ability or audiometry test?

There is no need to challenge anyone on any tests, is there?
Almost like a thumb rule the reaction to Bose systems on 'audiophile' forums are negative, that is not right. Not right because as you and all sincere and honest forum members can easily find that two words of nondescript criticism on Bose apparently lifts one to a supposed 'audiophile' pedestal (which in reality does not exist! ), this has been the attitude of many in this and other forums as well. This certainly is not right, but you will and have found that sincere opinions do state their case and state it unequivocally on ground realities of audio, on listening experience, on the musical likability of the sound, and not on the basis of technical jargon or based on the result of certain 'tests'. Even if technical jargon are presented they are presented perhaps to support the point, not as the point itself.
So I see no reason for such a challenge. If one likes Bose, then I have learned that is perfectly fine, if I do not then I should not be vilified because of it.

And this comes from someone whose elder sister is regional manager for Bose Eastern and Southern India, she accepts my views now (rather respects it, in turn I accept their business model, after years of being persecuted as the 'snake living within' ).

p.s. Serious,senior and well respected forum members have pointed out this very fact many many times on various topics previously, sound and one's preference is and always will remain subjective, just as Thad and Koushik has pointed out now.

 

[asliarun]

The more important question is - why do people keep bringing up the topic of *only* Bose? Why not Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, aiwa, pioneer, and the dozens of commercial "HiFi system" and HT manufacturers?

I will tell you why. Only Bose projects and markets itself as cutting edge HiFi. Their products are priced a s such. And it is nowhere near that.

So if you go to a car enthusiast forum and talk about a car company that has a race car exterior, is priced like a race car, but has the internals of a maruti, what reaction do you expect from forum members?

In fact, Sony has recently come out with true high end HiFi. Bang and Olufsen's IcePower modules and class D amps are highly regarded. Even Pioneer's Andrew Jones designed speakers are very very good sounding, and they are priced extremely reasonably.

We can have more worthwhile debates than talking about Bose and Beats audio where most of your purchase money goes into their marketing budget.

 

[linuxguru]

Store means a dealer is there to sell the Bose product or a direct store by bose, just keep your favorite track with you and you can compare it with bose and other brand setup then compare.Every audio dealer should have a demo room for audition.

Bose outlets don't demo other brands, and an audio store that sells and demos other brands will not have Bose equipment for A-B comparison. If they sell Bose at all, it will be in separate booth/kiosk which doesn't allow immediate A-B comparison with non-Bose equipment.

 

[hifiramr]

Bose outlets don't demo other brands, and an audio store that sells and demos other brands will not have Bose equipment for A-B comparison. If they sell Bose at all, it will be in separate booth/kiosk which doesn't allow immediate A-B comparison with non-Bose equipment.

No dealer will keep all brand in one store what I mean is visit different dealers for selected audio products and demo it and compare with same cd track or a move track whatever.Also it is very clear that bose have direct Bose store with separate demo room for them.

 

[alpha1]

To give an example - most people (layman especially) prefer the sound which has >10 kHz spectrum slightly boosted compared to the original sound.
Similarly many people actually prefer a subdued 200-600 Hz spectrum (cut the honkiness out).
But is it the actual sound?

But what is the role of the speaker? To recreate the actual sound.
I think this is where Bose falter, or actually capitalizes! since many people like the enhanced sound.

 

[BLASTO]

To give an example - most people (layman especially) prefer the sound which has >10 kHz spectrum slightly boosted compared to the original sound.
Similarly many people actually prefer a subdued 200-600 Hz spectrum (cut the honkiness out).
But is it the actual sound?

But what is the role of the speaker? To recreate the actual sound.
I think this is where Bose falter, or actually capitalizes! since many people like the enhanced sound.

So, what is wrong? People like the enhanced sound and they get it. They are ready to pay for the form factor and advertising too.

What is more wrong is, Audiophiles having preconceptions like how a speaker should sound and what is the sound people should like. Not every speaker recreates the original sound. It is next to impossible. Otherwise every speaker will sound the same. Every speaker has a house sound and it has everything to do with what the engineers think will cover the general public. Bose is no different.

Bose is not the only product thriving out of marketing. For eg: You cannot argue pepsi and coke thrive on marketing. And if you point out and show a better alternative in fresh juice, no one is going to listen.

 

[cha_indian]

I do agree with Blasto above..... and I sometimes like the 'Bose' sound and sometimes I feel it is overpriced for the SQ it produces. The people who buy bose are very brand concious and interested in 'Show off'. If you don't like Bose, don't buy it.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

There is nothing wrong with people buying the sound that they want and like.

What is wrong is misprepresentation, and leading people to believe that they are getting something that they are not, whether that is audio fidelity or value for money.

 

[square_wave]

Most people do not want hifidelity. Meaning fidelity to the recorded sound.

In sub optimal listening environments (which is the case in most urban living conditions), they enjoy (actually prefer) a sound system that adds carefully created curves to the sound spectrum. Press play to any music and it adds some excitement in the room. This is the need for majority of the music system buying demographic. They dont care a damn if it makes a Steinway sound like a casioThe bonus is bragging rights.

There is nothing wrong with cashing in on this need.

 

[pradeepkamat]

So, what is wrong? People like the enhanced sound and they get it. They are ready to pay for the form factor and advertising too.

What is more wrong is, Audiophiles having preconceptions like how a speaker should sound and what is the sound people should like. Not every speaker recreates the original sound. It is next to impossible. Otherwise every speaker will sound the same. Every speaker has a house sound and it has everything to do with what the engineers think will cover the general public. Bose is no different.

Bose is not the only product thriving out of marketing. For eg: You cannot argue pepsi and coke thrive on marketing. And if you point out and show a better alternative in fresh juice, no one is going to listen.

So finally what we want is to listen & enjoy MUSIC with reasonable or acceptable quality of sound as per everyone's liking.

To me listening to music, how it is rendered by the musician is more important. So let us enjoy music rather than doing postmortem of the specifications etc. Otherwise it will endup like,"Get a good Alphanso mango, remove its sweet delicious portion, throw it in dustbin and go on chewing skin & "Gutlis".

 

[panditji]

You have to hate/look down upon Bose if you are a true audiophile...only then you get entry into the club...it's the same like the single malt drinkers look down upon blended scotch because it does not have the smell of burnt wood...

And you does not spend money on marketing? I think we all know the retail price of the Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy 5s , Motos and the Lumias and the production cost of each? Yet we buy these because of the effect of their huge marketing campaigns....
Why do people buy the Axe deodarants and not the cheap locally available ones - it's because Axe marketing campaign promises us that women will be easily attracted to us if we use Axe... Forgive this long post but since I am in advertising, I had to defend marketing...

Also what is the difference between a regular rich guy and an audiophile if they have te same system???

 

[sktaliyan]

Also what is the difference between a regular rich guy and an audiophile if they have te same system???[/QUOTE]:lol::lol:

Very well said Panditji. I think you have not arrived, as an audiophile, if you haven't criticized ' The Bose'!! Only after you do that, can you claim to be on the path to be an 'audiophile' :yahoo::yahoo:

 

[Sawyer]

You have to hate/look down upon Bose if you are a true audiophile...only then you get entry into the club...it's the same like the single malt drinkers look down upon blended scotch because it does not have the smell of burnt wood...

I could not have put it better.
Bose hating is audiophile fashion. In their place they do very well. I have a pair of 251s doing external duty for over 10 years now, and they are brilliant in what they have to do. I notice the model is still being sold. While they are in a covered area, they have been exposed to heavy rain a few times. Still look like new. Expensive perhaps, but seen over the service they have given me so far, a bargain.
Sonos too faces similar criticisms, in this case because it is cheap by audiophile standards. I have a pair of their smallest unit, the play 1, each of which is a little bigger than a coke can. Together, they produce excellent sound in stereo. Are they bettered by my Harbeths - of course they are. But at a price of about 10% of the latter, they come a lot closer to the Harbeths than they have a right to. End of the day physics cannot be defeated, but advances in modern day signal processing tech bridges the gap to quite a large extent. Why forego that because of audiophile peer pressure, even snobbery - have the confidence to ignore it is what I would suggest.
Small correction on the single malt thing though - only those from one region are peat laden smoky. And there are some blends that are smoky too. But yes, single malt snobbery also flourishes.
PS: the Sonos pair cost drops to much below 10%, considering that they don't need a source, amplification, interconnects, speaker cables, or component racks! The Harbeths need all of these, they are passive speakers.

 

[shibashis]

If I take a different view, to be fair to Bose they do not quite market themselves as an 'Audiophile' brand per say, they emphasize more on the Lifestyle factor. If you take them and their products in face value then why complain?
Misleading public is something that we object to sure as Thad pointed out, but in today's world I do not think there is a single 'brand' which do not make their fortune by misleading the consumer. Holy smokes, just turn on our TV and look at the ad campaigns they run!

I suppose a lot of true music lovers are put off by Bose because they are passionate about music and audio, at least that is the case with sincere members. For others though as it has been pointed out, it is a matter of fashion the chance of 'Bose-bash'.

 

[Sawyer]

I suppose a lot of true music lovers are put off by Bose

I know a lot of true music lovers who don't much care about audio systems, and many would love to have Bose if they could afford it.

 

[rsud]

You have to hate/look down upon Bose if you are a true audiophile...only then you get entry into the club...it's the same like the single malt drinkers look down upon blended scotch because it does not have the smell of burnt wood...

And you does not spend money on marketing? I think we all know the retail price of the Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy 5s , Motos and the Lumias and the production cost of each? Yet we buy these because of the effect of their huge marketing campaigns....
Why do people buy the Axe deodarants and not the cheap locally available ones - it's because Axe marketing campaign promises us that women will be easily attracted to us if we use Axe... Forgive this long post but since I am in advertising, I had to defend marketing...

Also what is the difference between a regular rich guy and an audiophile if they have te same system???

Disagree completely. Yes, there are plenty of folks in high end who are into it for the snobbery and understand nothing about the essence of producing good sound/music. They think expensive is better. Just like there are plenty of wine snobs or scotch snobs who understand nothing of a good wine or scotch but have to read a magazine or look at trends or for someone to tell them whats best.

But there are also plenty of folks who are into audio, wines, and scotches for the right reasons. These folks build their own backgrounds, create experiences of their own by listening and sampling variety and learn to understand the essence of what makes for good sound or good wine or scotch.

These folks who quest for truth in their hobby understand expensive is not always better and there are lots of bargain hifi that sounds good or bargain wines / scotches that exude the qualities that make for good wine or scotch.

So don't dismiss seeking the truth and not following the fads or the folks who truly seek good sound and build their background and experience on what good sound is by listening to live music, voice, and instruments.

The true audiophile listens to live music and voice and then evaluates the sound of a hifi by comparing what they hear in a live performance (unamplified is best) to what a hifi produces. Sound is all around you. Learning to listen and discriminate is where the true art and hobby is for a true audiophile.

This is the difference between the "rich guy" who buys what he's told as long as its expensive enough and the true audiophile who buys what he hears to be the best sounding.

 

[shibashis]

I know a lot of true music lovers who don't much care about audio systems, and many would love to have Bose if they could afford it.

True, and there is nothing wrong with it honestly if that is what they prefer and like. In my experience though I have found that a complete non-exposure to other options play a huge part in preferring Bose. So one has to ask, the decision to go for Bose, is it a well informed and experienced one? If it is, then no problem at all, if not then we all want our horizons to expand, don't we?

 

[Robert Bose]

In my humble opinion , as an owner of Bose 901 Version VI, which is the

most famous Bose Speaker with a 50 year history, and also owner of Bose


301 Mark IV, is that if your music selection consists mainly of medium bit rate

MP3 files, this is the speaker for you, no other speaker gives satisfactory

output with Mp3, if however you are into reference quality recordings

and Hi fidelity jazz recordings from the likes of ECM ( Avedis Ziljian Cymbals )

better look elsewhere, I presented by Bose 301 to my Mother few years back

she was enjoying it with her LP and 1970s recording of Orchestral pop, till

I connected a 36 year old Yamaha 1000M in beat up condition into the

same system with only speaker swap, the amp was Cosmic LAB 3000 with

Philips DVD player, before that I had tried the 301 in various hi end systems

with 50K DAC, Opp0 93 source and 200W hi end Amp but it sucked

when the 36 old Yamaha was connected in place on Bose 301, to Cosmic

the difference was like cotton wool had been removed from the ears

even my 82 year old mother remarked on the improvement in sound with

the Yamaha, all else remaining same, I understand their 601 Version 11 was

a nice sounding unit, but it gives a colored sound, not harsh, not truthful to

the recording. but pleasant to the ear, long back I heard a pair of AR3a

and it really was something amazing, Beethovens moonlight Sonata sounded

like the piano was in the room with you, with Bose its like you are outside

the Auditorium where the Beethoven Piano Concert is Happening

A diffuse, pleasant sound, however for sheer Volume level there is

nothing to beat the Bose 901, you can play it at 117 DB for 10 hours at

400 W RMS per channel , it will not complain, Ideal for Clubs and Barbeque

Joints and Beer Joints for Teenagers listening to POP ( Pop is generally poorly

recorded as it is equalized and mixed to sound good on a boom box or a

radio ) to each his own, every ones ears unique, this is my 2 cents with

my ears , others would have different ears and different perceptions

Robert Bose

 

[rsud]

I know a lot of true music lovers who don't much care about audio systems, and many would love to have Bose if they could afford it.

The point is that for the same money you can have better sound that is more truthful to the music. That is the problem with bose. A true music lover buys the most they can afford, nothing wrong with that. In the end IT IS about the music.

 

[Sawyer]

The point is that for the same money you can have better sound that is more truthful to the music. That is the problem with bose. A true music lover buys the most they can afford, nothing wrong with that. In the end IT IS about the music.

Oh I agree. I don't have Bose anywhere except where the product made sense to me. But I don't need to prove audiophile cred by bashing Bose. Above all, I never criticise any Bose system that a friend has or may buy. Because I too have lots of things in other areas that can be done by other stuff costing a lot less.